As Seen On TV

In his book "The Screwtape Letters", C.S. Lewis writes, "Indeed, the safest road to Hell is the gradual one—the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts.”

Or to put it in lay terms, it starts out kind of like Play-Doh. A nice, pliable, toxic-free clay, suitable for young children to enjoy as they hone their motor skills. Clean up not too painful. Seems all right. But before long you've moved on to perler beads, not suitable for children of younger ages who are prone to meandering the hallways scrounging for a stray fruit snack because they may come upon a perler bead instead. Choking might ensue. Not good. Also somewhat tedious to supervise as it does involve ironing and enough wax paper to line the inside of Oprah's closet. Next you're on to Floam, a marriage of the gooey-and-pliable-but-magically-not-sticky with the irresistible texture of small beads. Actually, not that messy. But holy cow, they do NOT warn you about that smell when you call the 800 number.

And before you know it you have been carefully led down to hell with the culmination of a product called "Moon Sand", which sounds whimsical and worthy of purchase from a mom who is desperately trying to save her children from a summer dedicated to video games and a TV station created by the very devil himself, but might very well be the culprit behind my grainy corn on the cob.

That C.S. Lewis was no dummy. Anybody want to weigh in about Aqua Dots?